


Breaking Point

by The_Eldritch_IT_Gay



Series: Life of a Ghost [5]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blackwatch Era, Blood and Injury, Disabled Character of Color, Fun with trauma, Graphic Description of Wounds, I tried my best with the medical stuff but it's probably not the most accurate, Missions Gone Wrong, Panic Attacks, Violence, implied/referenced child abandonment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:14:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9303713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Eldritch_IT_Gay/pseuds/The_Eldritch_IT_Gay
Summary: A routine Blackwatch mission in 2068 takes a turn for the worse.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SomberCitizen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomberCitizen/gifts).



> Been working on finishing up a lot of my WIP Blackwatch fics lately, so here's one I started late November, and only just now got around to finishing... This fic was fueled by my sadistic ass that likes writing violence and injury, as well as my love for Lupa's character Lyuda. óvò
> 
> [Draft title for this fic: Lyuda's the only responsible one in Blackwatch i stg,,,]

The mission hadn’t gone according to plan. It was supposed to be an easy, straightforward mission, getting information and a few kills along the way. But Blackwatch missions were never easy.Early on Malik had pointed out that they had a bad feeling about it. The compound had been eerily quiet and empty, Kallista and Malik had been thorough in their recon they had done beforehand, and they knew that there were about 30 men in the base at all times. But when they showed up to do their mission, there wasn’t a person in sight. Everyone was on edge, knowing that this was far too easy.

They had been so close to the objective of the mission, when suddenly alarms blared and they found themselves woefully outnumbered. Gabe knew that they wouldn’t be able to fight their way out of this and finish the mission, so in the midst of the gunfire, he begrudgingly shouted for the crew to retreat. But in the chaos of the fight and trying to retreat back to the transport, everyone got separated. Cornered, Kallista had set off an EMP blast, which was always a very risky decision. Luckily, Lyuda wasn’t in the radius of the blast, so her prosthetics were not affected. Malik was not as lucky, and the blast shorted out their glove and implants- leaving their left arm mostly useless, and their hearing severely damaged. The teams coms went down as well, so they were all fighting their way back to the transport in the blind. 

Lyuda had made it back to the transport first, collapsing into one of the seats as she caught her breath and waited anxiously for the others. She hadn’t seen them in her dash back to the transport, and she felt uneasy knowing the rest of the crew was still out there. A few tense minutes later, Reyes and Kallista made it back to the ship. Malik, Jesse, and Nat were still MIA. 

“Did you see them at all on your way back?” Lyuda asked them as she peered into the darkness outside the transport. Gunfire and yells were still blasting in the distance. 

“I saw Nat and Jesse ahead of me, I thought they’d already be back.” Kallista offered. 

Reyes sighed, pacing impatiently, “I helped Ramos up and told him to get back to the transport. He should have been here before me. Kaines, was he in the radius of your EMP blast?”

She looked slightly guilty, “It’s very possible… I think most of us were in the radius…”

“Well fuck, not only is everyone in the blind, but now Malik is in the blind, essentially deaf, and his left arm is paralyzed. How  _ great _ . Good job guys.” He muttered.

Kallista visibly shrunk a bit, jaw setting as she walked to one of the far corners of the transport. Sitting in one of the seats, looking dejected, she pulled out her data pad flicking through it disinterestedly. Lyuda turned to face Reyes angrily, shoving him back harshly. He hadn’t been expecting that and found himself pinned against the wall by her, her forearm resting against his neck. His hand instinctively went for his gun but he stopped himself, narrowing his eyes at her. 

“Get your shit together Gabriel,” She growled, “You're the leader of this fucking team, stop being such a goddamn passive-aggressive ass, you're not fucking helping anyone.”

Reyes raised his eyebrows at her outburst, as it was uncommon, but he knew she had a point. Letting out an exasperated breath, he nodded.

“Understood, Lieutenant Dontsova.”

Still glaring at him, she backed away, walking over to the hatch and scanning the darkness outside.

They all waited a few minutes in tense silence, looking for any sign of them in the distance. When after 10 minutes, they still hadn’t shown up, Lyuda broke the silence.

“I have to go back out there,” She said, hefting up her rifle and starting towards the hatch. 

Reyes caught her shoulder, stopping her. 

“No. We can’t risk having anyone else disappear. You’re staying here,” He commanded then turned to Kallista, “Coms still down?”

Nodding, she sighed, looking incredibly tired.  She was navigating through her data pad half-heartedly, pointedly avoiding eye contact. 

“Can’t find any comlinks on in the area. Either damaged or out of range. Most of the security cameras got damaged, so I don’t have a good view of the place, and none of them are on the cameras I can access.” Sighing again, she rested her face in her hands, “Lo siento.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Reyes groaned.

“We can’t wait forever, the longer we wait, the more we put ourselves at risk...” He muttered, “I’m going to start the transport. If they’re still not back in 10 minutes…”

His unfinished sentence and its implications hung heavily in the air. The hum of the transport was the only sound as they lapsed into silence again, hope fading with each passing minute. As the 10 minutes had nearly passed, Reyes stood in the entrance of the transport, looking out half-heartedly. Lyuda stood behind him, getting ready to tell him time is up. Right as she opened her mouth to speak, a cry echoed through the darkness. Everyone had their hands on their guns in an instant as they scanned around for any movement. Suddenly, out of the gloom and smoke, they appeared. Nat and Jesse trudging and limping, struggling to support an injured Malik. 

Reyes let out a curse and ran out to them, easily scooping up Malik and yelling at the others to hurry back to the ship. Nat and Jesse jogged to the transport, nearly collapsing into a seat. They were both covered in grime, sweat, and blood, and looking thoroughly shaken. Putting away her data pad, Kallista went over to the two, looking relieved to see them alive. 

“Need a medkit, ASAP,” Reyes shouted as soon as he stepped on the transport, the limp and bloody form of Malik in his arms. 

Lyuda ran over to grab the medkit as Reyes carefully placed them down on a cot. They looked horrible, muscles twitching and jerking, a flap of skin hanging off their temple, and both their legs mutilated and twisted beyond recognition below their knees. Dropping to their knees beside the cot, Lyuda was quick to assess the damage. Nat was trembling and babbling something to Jesse who was sitting her down and trying to get her to calm down a bit- despite being shaken himself. 

Standing, Reyes wiped the blood off his hands and looked at Lyuda. 

“I gotta radio ahead to HQ to have a medic ready when we get there, Dontsova, can you try and stabilize them the best you can?”

She nodded, already digging through the medkit for supplies. Blackwatch never had medics on missions- they didn’t have any medics in Blackwatch and Overwatch couldn’t be bothered to send a medic with them. Gabe and Lyuda always ended up playing medic, while neither of them were actually medics, they’d been in the field long enough to have picked up some things. Luckily, severe injuries weren’t too common in Blackwatch for either of them to need to that often. But Malik was always the outlier, they always ended up with some injury every mission. Hell, most of the crew knew basic first aid because of Malik’s frequent injuries. Gunshots, broken ribs, concussions were far too common with them. But even then it was seldom life threatening, and even when it was, it was nothing like this.

Malik hadn’t lost consciousness, but their eyes were unfocused, eyelids drooping. Pulling out bandages and gauze, she jumped when they suddenly tried to sit up. They didn’t get far, and she didn’t know if it was because of muscle spasms, pain, or injury that caused them to fall back. Before she could start wrapping the wounds on their legs, they were trying to sit up again, pulling themselves away from her touch. Making a frustrated noise, she gently pushed their shoulders back to get them to lie down.

“Please just lie back for me okay? I’m trying to help you.” She said, trying to keep her voice calm.

She wasn’t entirely sure of their awareness level, as far as she knew they were to shaken and confused to understand her. Even if that wasn’t the issue, she was fairly certain their implants weren’t working, so they likely couldn’t even hear her. Picking up her rifle that was next to her, she made sure that they could see her push it away then hold up her hands, showing she was now unarmed. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, okay? You’re injured, you need to let me help you.”

After a tense few moments, they finally gave up struggling and let her guide them to lie back down. Their muscles were still contracting randomly, causing them to spasm enough to put her on edge. They were bleeding pretty heavily from their legs, tissue and muscle torn away revealing bone, some parts of the sticking out through their skin. Grimacing, she tried her best to wrap what she could in bandages, and packing gauze around where bone stuck out. She had to push their hands out of the way on multiple occasions, as they sometimes tried to stop her or push her hands away. At the moment, she wasn’t sure if it was panic and shock setting in, their usual aversion to medical care, or a mix of both. Part of her hoped it was just Malik being the stubborn little shit they always were, however she knew they were going to go into shock soon if they weren’t already. Malik was still convulsing enough to make the job difficult, and only making their injuries worse. She rummaged around for something to splint their legs with. Letting out a frustrated sigh she looked over to Jesse and Nat.

“Jesse, do you know what happened?” She asked as she started tying their legs into a splint.

She knew she could probably control the bleeding, but the shock and convulsions she didn’t know about. While she waited for a response, she tugged their medical tag necklace out of their shirt, wondering if she had somehow missed the fact that they were epileptic. But the tag confirmed they didn’t, and that sent another pang of worry through her. Carefully, she lifted one of their eyelids, noting the pinpointed pupils and irritation. It was something she had seen a few times before, and she quietly hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was.

“Dunno,” Jesse said after a while, “Didn’t see what happened to his legs, but he got sprayed with something I think.” 

“ _ Fuck _ ,” She muttered, hopes going out the window, “Didn’t think they’d go that low.”

Quickly tying of the splint, she grabbed something to prop their legs up a bit. She started rummaging around in the medkit until she found the CANA injectors. Letting out a sigh of relief, she pulled 3 from the kit, placing them on the ground next to her. She was quietly thankful that the medkit was stocked well enough to have the injections, as they were rarely ever needed. She was also thankful that she had enough experience from the field to know what to do in this situation. Picking up one of them, she quickly pulled the smaller injector from the clip.

“Oh god, are they going to be okay? Please tell me they’re going to be okay,” Nat pleaded, panic clear in her voice. 

Lyuda felt around the outside of their thigh for a minute, before slowly pressing the needle through their clothing, letting the autoinjector inject the medication.

“Nat, you’re not helping, they're going into shock and your panic is going to only make it worse, so calm down or keep quiet.” Lyuda stated matter of factly as she started the next injection. 

Nodding, Nat bit her lip and went quiet. Meanwhile, Jesse stepped forward, hovering uncertainly behind Lyuda.

“So uh,” He started, “Ya know what's wrong with ‘em?”

Lyuda huffed in annoyance as she placed the empty syringes out of the way. Already Malik’s convulsions had lessened in intensity a bit, but they were still shaking enough to be deeply concerning.

“I’ve seen it a few times, back during the crisis.” She shrugged as she started the next round of injections before muttering, “ _ Fucking nerve agents, that’s playing dirty. _ ”

Tossing the syringes away, she started the next injections, and noticing the rapid rise and fall of their chest, pressed two fingers to their neck to check their pulse. It was weak and fluttering under his fingers, their skin coated in sweat and looking a sickly ashen. She swore again while finishing the injections- they were in shock, she needed to stabilize them fast if they were going to survive the trip without organ damage. Putting the syringes to the side, she tried to think of the best way to get them through this. When she looked up, she saw Jesse standing by them, looking pale, sick, and worried. Her patience was worn far too thin with the stress of the mission and her well concealed panic about Malik’s condition. 

“Jesse you are  _ not  _ helping,” She snapped, “You wanna help? Grab the oxygen kit for me, otherwise get the fuck back, you’re only making it worse.”

He jumped and nodded, dashing over to grab the oxygen kit. While he did that, Lyuda pulled out the thermal blanket, settling it over them gently. They tried to protest weakly, but she ignored their indignant noises. Jesse returned and handed her the oxygen kit, and she opened it, moving to kneel at the head of their cot. Securing the oxygen mask over their face proved to be difficult when Malik's shock hazed mind kept telling them to try and get away. When she finally got the mask on them, she let out a tired sigh. She gently brushed the hair out of their face, trying to calm them and get across that she wasn't going to hurt them. Their protests died down slowly, likely due to exhaustion. Looking down at them, she couldn't help but feel bad. They had only returned to active duty a couple months ago, after their pregnancy. Since the start of the pregnancy, they had fallen into a deep depression, they hadn't been eating or sleeping regularly for a while. Recently though, as they recovered from the birth, it had finally let up and they were allowed to return to duty. Now they were seriously injured, and she felt a pang of guilt that they were having to go through so much that they shouldn't have to go through. Shaking her head slightly, her eyes flicked up to Jesse who was still standing by them uncertainly.

“Are you going to be able to stay calm?” She asked. 

“Yeah… I’ll stay calm, promise I ain’t gonna panic.”

“Good,” She nodded at their legs, “Keep their legs elevated for me then, be careful. And if you even  _ think _ you might get anxious, get the fuck away. Okay? They see you panic, and then they panic, and that’ll only escalate the shock, understand?”

He nodded, kneeling by the cot and carefully elevating their legs. Sighing again, she settled into a slightly more comfortable position, holding their head still. She didn't know if their neck or spine was injured, but with the large gash on the side of their head, she didn't want to take any chances. Their eyes were starting to droop, their consciousness threatening to fade . It put her on edge, she didn't want them to black out, especially when they had a head injury and serious wounds. Whenever their eyes would start to flutter closed, she tapped their face gently, telling them to stay with her. There wasn’t much else she could do now but wait, and hope to god they get back to HQ in time. She started humming softly as she she sat, hoping to calm Malik down as much as possible. Their eyes were lidded now, but not threatening to close anymore, so she allowed herself to relax a bit. While she hummed, she found herself remembering when she was in their place all those years ago. Closing her eyes, she hung her head tiredly.

She wasn’t sure how much later it had been when she sudden felt Malik jerk suddenly. Her eyes flew open and she looked down at them, worriedly. Their eyes were wide with fear, looking around wildly. Frantically, one of their hands flew up to claw at the oxygen mask, trying to pull it off with numb fingers. 

“Hey,  _ hey!” _ She snapped, batting their hand away, “Leave it on, you need it.”

They let their hand drop but they were still shaking, breath hitching as they gasped for air. Swallowing her own panic, she smoothed their hair back, softly murmuring reassurances to get them to calm down. She knew there weren’t any painkillers left in the frequently used medkit, and she silently cursed herself for not making sure the medkit was full before the mission. The medkits in Blackwatch were always used at a depressing frequency, so they were usually fully stocked. It took a few minutes for Lyuda to get them to start to calm down, but they slowly did as Lyuda guided them to take deep breaths. Before she could relax again, she noticed the split on their legs coming loose, bones threatening to shift. She swore softly, and was about to move to adjust the splint, but stopped suddenly when she noticed Malik trying to look down. Quickly, she caught their chin, and encouraged them to lay their head back again.

“Keep your eyes on mine,” She instructed, “Okay, stay with me, deep breaths.”

Once they shakily resumed deep breathing, she addressed Jesse without looking at him. 

“Jesse, I need you to very carefully, retie the parts of the splint that are coming loose okay. Move their legs as little as possible. If you need to, pack more gauze around where the bones are. Understood?”

He nodded tensely, finding the loose ties that held the splint in place. Lyuda didn’t miss the way his hands were shaking as he retied the first loose tie. When he tied it of, Malik’s breath hitched in their throat again, but she was quick to calm them. It was the second tie that proved to be problematic, when Jesse’s anxiousness caused him to pull the tie to hard, the bones sticking out shifting with a sickening noise. Malik let out a loud whimper of pain, fingers white knuckled as they clutched the blanket.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck,” Jesse cried, panic more than evident in his voice. 

Upon hearing Jesse’s panic, Malik tensed up, breathing accelerating again, in fast irregular gasps. Lyuda was trying her best to calm them again, trying to guide them to take deep breaths, to no avail. 

“Jesse,” Lyuda said calmly, not looking at him, “Get the fuck out of here with that, get your shit together. If you can’t handle it, you need to get the fuck back this instant.”

He backed away quickly with a nod, walking unsteadily over to where Kallista and Nat were sitting. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she tried her best to keep Malik as still as possible and get them to breath normally. 

“Kallista,”

The woman straightened at the sound of her name, quickly putting away her data pad. After a moment, of hesitation, she stood up and went over to where Lyuda was.

“Yeah? What do you need?” She asked.

There was a slight hint of anxiety and guilt in Kallista’s voice when she spoke. Lyuda ignored it, and motioned to Malik’s legs. 

“Take over what Jesse was doing- keep their legs elevated. Be sure to stay calm, I don’t want their shock to escalate any further.”

“Sure thing.” Kallista nodded.

Lyuda’s eyes flicked up to look at Kalli while she knelt by the end of the cot, noting that her eyes were watering slightly. Letting out a soft sigh, she went back to focusing on trying to calm Malik. She hummed a soft tune, wiping some of the sweat and tears off of their face, and gently smoothing their hair back. Slowly but surely, their hitching gasps turned into soft whimpers, and they stopped writhing. Their eyes were still wide and their body still trembled, but it was still better than panic. After a few minutes Lyuda stopped humming, a weariness taking over her body as the adrenaline ebbed away. 

Chancing a glance over to Nat and Jesse, she was slightly surprised to see Reyes sitting with them. He was calm as ever, but she could see the concern on his face while they all talked in hushed voices. They both still looked shaken, but they were calmer than they were before, and that gave her some relief. She was pulled from her thoughts when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Malik’s hand had flown up to their face again, and Lyuda- assuming they were going to try to take of their oxygen mask again- was about to bat it away. But instead, their hand scrabbled to grasp her hand, holding it tightly as they let out a whimper. She smiled softly, rubbing her thumb over their over their knuckles gently. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” She whispered, “We’re almost back to HQ, just stay with me alright? You’re not allowed to die on my watch, so just hold on.”

* * *

It seems that almost the second the transport touched down back at HQ, that a team of medics were rushing on board. Lyuda tried to back off and let the medics help Malik, but they clutched her hand tightly whimpering pathetically. Before she could do anything, a medic pulled their hand from hers, paying no heed to the panicked noises Malik made. Reluctantly, she bit back a bitter comment, and stepped back. Leaning heavily against the wall of the transport, she let out a tired sigh, watching the medics work through lidded eyes. The medics were quick to strap him into a backboard and move him to a stretcher, speaking to each other in fast medical jargon, starting an IV before one of them turned to her.

“Nerve agents,” Sighed tiredly, answering their unspoken question, “They were hit with nerve agents, and were convulsing pretty bad. I administered three CANA injections, which stopped the convulsing at the least. Other than that I focused on trying to control the bleeding and keep them from going into severe shock. He got hit with an EMP which almost certainly fucked up his cochlear implants, so he can’t hear anything. Just… check their medical tags. And alert Doctor Mikami.”

As soon as the medics rushed off with Malik, she closed her eyes, slumping against the wall slightly. Their was something both relaxing and unnerving about the medics taking them. On the one hand, their life was no longer in her hands, and they were getting proper care. But there was something so final and foreboding about seeing them taken away, and the resigned helplessness she always felt seeing them so badly injured.  

A hand on her shoulder suddenly pulled her from her thoughts.

“You did good, Dontsova,” Reyes said, “How you holding up?”

“I’m managing,”  She shrugged, running her fingers through her hair tiredly, “Just…”

She trailed off with a sigh, looking at the substantial pool of blood on the floor. They would definitely need a transfusion, with the amount of blood they lost. If the gash on their head was any indication, they probably had a nasty concussion. Those two things alone were serious enough, but adding the nerve agents and mutilation.

“Even if he makes it through this okay…” She started, looking at Reyes. 

He sighed, leaning back against the wall next to her. 

“I know, I know…” He nodded solemnly, taking a deep breath, “They’re running out of chances.”

“They haven’t already? You still feel that sending them out on missions is a good idea after thing?”

She didn’t want to admit it either, but it was something they had been having to talk about since Malik’s kids. They had been out of it since the beginning of the pregnancy, and they had both hoped they would improve afterwards. But then after the birth, they ran from the hospital, and were missing for nearly three days before they were found unconscious and sickly in a forgotten corner of the building. Even months later, they still had hardly improved. They had only just barely gotten cleared for active duty again, and now…

“He deserves a chance, it’s not like he can recover from what he’s gone through these past months overnight, he still should get a chance-”

“This isn’t about whether or not he deserves a chance anymore, Reyes,” She interrupted softly, looking down, “This is about whether you can, in good conscience, let him stay on the team. It’s not just about his ability, it’s about what’s  _ safest _ for him, and everyone. You know letting him keep going like this is going to end the same way it did this time. Malik’s a good agent, and he’s done amazing work and has an amazing track record. But I can’t keep watching this happen. I’m not letting anyone on this team die on my watch, I’m not going to keep putting him at risk like that.”

“I know…” He breathed tiredly, “I know…”

The two lapsed into silence for a few minutes, tired and solemn as the last bits of adrenaline ebbed from their systems. After a while, a soft ping made them both jump a bit, and Reyes pulled out his tablet, a few more pings sounding out in rapid succession. 

“Mikami?” Lyuda guessed, watching Reyes read the messages out of the corner of her eye. 

“Yeah… he heard about Mali, wants to go see him as soon as he can.”

Sighing, he stood back up, quickly typing out a reply. 

“I’m gonna hit the showers, and clean up a bit,” Reyes said, before putting his tablet away,  “Then I’m gonna see if I can watch Haruka and Atsuko for a bit so Mikami can be with Malik for a bit. I’ll let you know when Mali’s out of surgery. In the meantime you should get checked out in the medbay.”

Lyuda sighed, but didn’t argue, standing up and going over to pick up her discarded rifle as Reyes left the transport. She was on her way out when she noticed the light reflecting off of something gold on the floor. Curious, she walked over and picked up a slightly bloody pendent from the floor. She immediately recognized it as Malik’s, the polished blue goldstone attached to a simple gold chain. When she has first joined, she remembered seeing them fidget with it while sitting across from them in a back hall of the Blackwatch building. Smiling weakly, she carefully put it in one of her pockets, hoping to give it to them when she saw them after their surgery. 

* * *

 

Malik was in surgery for a bit over 8 hours, Jian ended up joining the surgical team, since he was the head neurologist and they had suffered significant nerve damage. When she heard they had made it through surgery from Reyes, she slowly made her way to the ICU to see them. There was a nurse checking on them when she entered the small, sterile room. 

“I’ll be out in a moment, Lieutenant,” The nurse smiled as he changed one of their IV bags. 

She nodded, quietly going over to sit in the chair next to the bed. Some of the color had returned to Malik’s skin, likely from the blood transfusion and fluids they got, but they still looked awful. Their hair was pulled back, head bandaged, hooked up to oxygen, a few IV lines attached to their chest. She couldn’t help the small sense of guilt she felt seeing them so injured on her watch. 

“You were the one who kept him alive on the way to HQ, yeah?” The nurse asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

“Yeah,” She shrugged.

“You did a fine job, man, not many people would have done as well as you did. Definitely increased their chances of making it through all this okay.”

She was quiet for a moment before asking, “What are his odds now?”

The nurse sighed, looking at her.

“They don’t know yet. He made it through surgery with only a few complications, but it’s hard to access the extent of any neurological damage until they’re away. They wanna check if he has any damage to his organs from the hypoperfusion, but they’re not rushing to move him or open him up so soon after a major surgery. It’s all up in the air right now, but if you ask me, knowing Ramos, he’s gonna pull through.”

“You know Malik, then?”

He smiled, pushing a few of his locs out of his face.

“Yeah, been friends with Jian since he was in med school. I’m a nurse for a lot of his patients, which means I see Ramos a lot. Mikami just left a bit ago, gotta go take care of the kids. Real sweet kids, I watch ‘em sometimes in my off hours.” A soft buzzing interrupted him, and he grabbed his pager from his pants, looking at it, “Ah, I gotta run, ‘nother patient needs surgery prep. Anyways, stay with Ramos as long as you want, visiting hours end soon but no one’s gonna enforce that too harshly, ‘specially with Ramos.”

He shoved his pager back in his pocket, giving a short wave before dashing off. Lyuda couldn’t help the weak chuckle she let out after he left, of course Malik would befriend some of the nurses. Sighing, she pulled their pendent from her pocket, she had washed it off quickly while they had still been in surgery. She ran her thumb over the glassy stone, turning it over in her hand. The small engraving on the back had caught her attention when she had cleaned it. 

_ Tus ojos tienen las galaxias _

- _ J _

Smiling, she carefully placed the pendent on the bedside table. After a minute, she pulled out her tablet, quietly checking on the mission report she had been filing. While she typed a message from Reyes popped up, and an attached picture of Haruka and Atsuko. She took a moment to look at the photo and smile at the sight of the small children, before returning to her work. 

She hadn't realized she had fallen asleep until a small noise startled her awake. Malik's eyes were fluttering open weakly, whimpering and shifting restlessly. Carefully, Lyuda leaned over and brushed some of the hair from their eyes. 

“You're okay, Malik,” she said softly, “You're in hospital. Don't panic.”

“… _ h-hurts…”  _ They managed to choke out, tears welling up in the corner of their eyes. 

“I'll go get a nurse,” She nodded, starting to stand. 

“N…no…” they cried weakly, “Don't… don't leave…”

Letting out a soft breath, before sitting down again, nodding. 

“Okay… okay… I'm here, you're okay,” she reassured.  

Gently, she took his hand, and they were quick to grasp her hand tightly. She ran her thumb over their scuffed knuckles, humming a calming tune. 

  
“It's okay. You're gonna make it through this. You're still not allowed to die on my watch.” She murmured softly, as their eyes started to flutter shut again, “I'm going to get you through this…”

**Author's Note:**

> :3c
> 
> Everything's only downhill from here in the timeline, folks. Also expect another Malik fic sometime soon, I have it done, just need to get my lazy ass around to posting it some time. Thanks for reading! Leave a kudos if you liked it óvò


End file.
